Orica (ORI)

Goldman Sachs has maintained its “buy" rating of chemical maker
Orica
in spite of a downgrade to earnings announced by the company on Monday.

Orica announced that significant weather events had resulted in a reduction in volumes produced at its explosives factories on the eastern seaboard. The net impact is expected to be a loss of between $10 million and $15 million.

Orica’s Minova operations have also suffered from a contraction in underground coal volumes, which have wound back 15 per cent over the year to date.

The broker has cut its fiscal 2013 full-year earnings per share estimates by between 1.2 per cent and 4.5 per cent. It expects EPS of $1.983 for fiscal 2013 and $2.172 for fiscal 2014.